


Bite-Sized BeauJester

by fivegoldpieces (alexthealrighthuman)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Originally Posted on Tumblr, some of these I planned to make into longer pieces but just wouldn't cooperate so...hehe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:38:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24810172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexthealrighthuman/pseuds/fivegoldpieces
Summary: BeauJester drabbles and ficlets I wrote on a whim.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Beauregard Lionett
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> in which Beau falls in a fight against Gelidon

jester could do nothing but scream as the white dragon rears its head back and sinks its teeth into beau.

beau who always runs ahead to the thick of battle, armed only with her fists and her staff. beau who faces enemies that tower over her and leaves them stricken with a single blow. beau who always gets up no matter how battered, burnt, broken, or bruised her body is.

beau who lights up at the mention of archives and libraries, who keeps notebooks in one pocket and bacon in the other. beau who tucks her in and buys her extra pastries and holds her when she cries. beau who thinks she’s strong and pretty and graceful and amazing and trustworthy and powerful and always enough and never ever fails to let her know.

beau who has always _always_ been her roommate.

beau, whose body falls out of the dragon’s maw - unmoving, too far for her or caduceus to heal - whose staff lies in pieces underneath her broken fingers, whose eyes stare vacantly like a pair of sapphires kept locked away, whose blood bleeds into the snow like spilled watercolor on paper.

the dragon rears back to take another hit towards the fallen monk-

-and jester _snaps_.

with a snarl, she charges at the white dragon, boots thundering against the icy cavern floor until her hands slam against one of its legs. she digs her fingers into its scales and the coldness burns her fingertips but she doesn’t care. it’s nothing compared to the panic thumping against her chest, the coiling anger forming within her with nowhere to go.

she doesn’t realize she’s crying until she feels tears freezing onto her cheeks.

she mutters an incantation, teeth grit and lips trembling as she prays to the traveler. she channels all of it, all of the fear and shock and _rage_ into the dragon. distantly, she hears crossbow bolts finding their mark in the creature’s hide, feels the lick of heat from a fireball somewhere to her left, a grunt of gratitude as someone gets healed. the absence of the crack of beau’s staff makes her grip the dragon’s scales even tighter, makes her fury consume her.

the creature howls as she snarls another incantation, this one a spell more powerful than the last. she wrenches her hands away as it gives out one last screech, blackened scales sticking out from its ivory coat. she turns and races towards beau’s form, knowing she only has a short amount of time before the diamonds in her pouch turn useless. she barely avoids a swipe from the dragon’s tail, nearly stumbling face-first onto jagged stalagmites. still, she presses on.

she slides onto her knees by the monk. the feeling of pins and needles riddle her legs but she pays it no mind. her fingers find their way underneath beau’s jaw. no pulse. her skin is cold - not as cold as the dragon was and yet it hurts jester just the same, even more so as she takes in the glassy look in beau’s eyes.

she fumbles trying to open her pouch, nearly sobs in relief as her shaking hands manages to pull out the handful of diamonds they bought weeks ago. she presses them to beau’s chest and pleads to the traveler, even offers up a prayer to ioun. she whispers in infernal - phrases she heard her mama say long ago, when tales of her father do nothing but dredge up years-old aches - breath coming out as mist.

when beau snaps back into existence, when the stinging cold invades her lungs and the ringing in her ears fades away, she is greeted by a clinging embrace and warm lips pressed against her own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous asked: Flip it! Zone of Truth effects everyone, Beau asks Jes as a joke, parroting what she asked before and Jessie just can't respond, her tail wagging frantically, fiddling with the hems of her clothes and then she blurts out a response and as before, runs for the door!

“are you secretly in love with me?”

beau freezes as she feels the magic behind the words. she clenches her jaw, counts a breath in, another out, and feels the power of the spell pass over her. she nearly sighs in relief, but instead throws on a smirk for jester. she ignores the curious looks fjord caleb and caduceus are leveling at her and instead focuses on getting her heartbeat back to normal.

“I don’t know.” not a lie, not really. feelings are complicated. “are _you_ secretly in love with me?” beau throws in a wink for good measure. she can still feel the others’ gazes on her.

jester perks up, tail swishing behind her as a small smile tugs at her lips. beau braces herself for whatever joke the tiefling is about to crack. after all the spell probably doesn’t work backwards, and there’s no way jester would even feel the same way.

“well,” the tiefling starts out, a teasing lilt to her voice, “maybe I am. just a little bit. or maybe a lot because you know you’re my best friend and you’re just so wonderful and really beautiful and kind and strong but not as strong as me and also I just want to stare at you all the time and maybe-kiss-you-a-lot-all-the-time-and-i-just-love-you-so-much-you-know?” jester laughs, nervous and loud and almost hysterical, cheeks turned ruddy purple. her tail swishes agitatedly behind her, her fists clenched into her skirts, refusing to look at the monk in front of her. beau isn’t faring any better. she can feel the hard beating of her heart and her chest hurts and she’s finding it hard to breathe but in the best way possible.

caleb clears his throat. “we’ll, ah, give you two your privacy.” he signals the rest of the group, and slowly they file out. beau feels a hesitant pat on her back as fjord passes behind her.

the door falls shut and it’s only them now. jester who is still looking everywhere but at beau and beau who can’t look away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> beau hits her head and gets healed.

beau bites back a curse as the back of her head slams against the cave wall.

the jutting rock isn’t necessarily sharp enough to break skin. hell, the worst she’ll get is a bruise on the back of her neck - manageable, far from being the worst injury she’s sustained.

but there’s something about the blow, something about the stone hitting the back of her head that reminds her of an ache she hasn’t felt in a long time.

(it’s in the shape of her father’s discipline, of hard knocks on the back of her head, of nights spent alone in bed with hands folded upon her chest as her stomach rumbles without dinner, of - )

(well. that’s enough of that.)

she shakes herself out of it, leaves those memories behind just in time for jester to bound up to her, dress covered in gods-know-what, smiling with her hands held out and ready to heal.

beau tries for a reassuring smile which immediately falls into a grimace as pain shoots through the back of her skull, hand flying up to her nape on reflex.

jester steps closer and caresses the back of her head, brows furrowed as her perpetually cold fingertips gently comb through her growing undercut to trace over the bump down to the nape of her neck. beau almost shivers, though she doesn’t know why. maybe it’s the way the tiefling’s eyes flutter close as she begins to call to the traveler for his power. maybe it’s the way the light catches on jester’s lips as she murmurs phrases to make the pain go away.

or maybe it’s the gentleness that she never thought she would get - never thought herself worthy of - after years of rapped knuckles and slaps to the head. either way, she doesn’t get to think about it for too long.

because right as she opens her mouth to speak, she feels the press of lips against the corner of her mouth, quick enough that she wonders if she had just imagined it.

jester pulls away from her with a soft smile, and as beau watches her skip away to heal their other companions, she feels a new ache blooming deep within her chest - familiar, terrifying and not entirely unwelcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jester wakes up from a night of rest after a long battle.

jester rolls over in her bed, humming as she stretches, slight wince as she feels the burn of muscles worn out. her arm falls into the space next to her, empty and cold- a stark contrast to the warm sunlight filtering through the windows of the room.

strange. it’s not like beau to wake up so early after a long battle and-

oh.

right.

she remembers, then. the chaos of clashing blades and the buzz of magic all around her. dodging an arrow just to catch sight of the way the monk’s body had fallen onto the floor- sharp, inelegant, uncharacteristic of the effortless grace with which the human moved. the warm slick of blood underneath her palms, seeping into the stone floor as she tries to bring her back, bring her back, bring her-

she stops. she takes a moment, holds a breath to ground herself, exhales like her mama had taught her to, and listens.

faint and erratic, a low rumble followed by a quick puff of air, familiar- fjord, stretched out on the bed closest to the door. close to him, barely noticeable, steady and methodical- caleb, back turned to her. fast and shallow breaths, scratchy as if air itself is clawing out of her throat- nott, curled up at the foot of caleb’s bed. close, deep breaths giving way to quiet hums- caduceus, legs drooping over the foot of his bed. by the window, breaths drawn in, soft and heavy- yasha, face smushed into a pillow.

quick, shallow, each exhale pushed out, each inhale dragged in- herself, burrowed in a tight cocoon of blankets, as if it could chase away the aching cold sitting heavily right between her lungs.

(beau used to tuck her in during cold mornings, had fixed jester’s thrown-off covers before doing her daily routine at the crack of dawn. the tiefling never had to worry about being cold even then but now. well.)

she shuffles onto her side, away from the empty space next to her. the sounds of her friends asleep envelops her, a rhythm building upon each other, as if they were an orchestra playing the same symphony. on any other day, a comfort - but today all it serves is to remind her of the absence of snores, loud and gruff and rumbling. no, beau is on a bed in the furthest corner of the room, rigid, unmoving, covered with a clean sheet. dead because the diamonds weren’t enough, because the traveler wasn’t enough, because-

-because _jester_ wasn’t enough.

she fumbles around for a pillow and shoves it against her face as she feels a sob threaten to tear through the quiet morning, shuddering as she lets tears fall hot against her skin.

jester tries not to think of how beau would have wrapped her arms around her then: gentle, steady, a promise of always being there- like in lorenzo’s base, like on the deck of the balleater, like in bazzoxan, like in front of her father- not like now, where jester is left to pretend like the pillow within her arms and the blanket pulled tight around her could suffice.

she takes in a breath, then another, and slowly the cold ache begins to fade until she’s just. tired. tired of getting hurt, tired of being scared, tired of losing.

she hears the sound of sheets shifting by the door, followed by mumbled words and groans of movement. bit by bit the room comes to life. she stays underneath the covers for a little more, before finally, she squares her shoulders and pushes herself to sit up, smile ready on her face.

she’s fine.

she’s always fine.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


End file.
